^^AMEULET-COjLLECTiom 

THE  SORROW  OF  LENT 


FOR  SIN,  AND  NOT  FOR  SUFFERING; 


THE   MORNING  SERMON 


ST.  MAEY'S  CHURCH,  BURLINGTON, 


ON  THE 


FIRST  SUNDAY   IN  LENT, 

February  22d,  A.  D.,  1863. 


BY  THE  BECTOB, 


The  Eev.  Wm.  Croswell  Doane,  B.  D, 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
J.  B.  CHANDLER,  PRINTER,  306  &  308  CHESTNUT  STREET. 

1863. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/sorrowoflentforsOOdoan 


S  E  R  M  O  IT. 

■   —  

*St.  Matthew  x.  34. 

''Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace  on  earth:  I  came  not  to  send 
peace,  but  a  sword." 

Hard,  indeed,  is  this  saying  of  tlie  Prince  of  Peace.  It  is  a  private, 
confidential  utterance  to  the  twelve  Apostles.  He  begins,  in  this  chap- 
ter to  draw,  closer  to  His  heart,  nearer  to  His  thoughts,  more  in  contact 
and  communion  with  what  St.  Paul  calls,  'Hhe  mind  of  Christ,^^  those 
whom  He  was  so  soon  to  leave,  as  lambs,  Himself  the  Shepherd,  far 
away,  in  the  midst  of  wolves.  And  they  are  hard  sayings.  The  herald 
song  of  the  Angel  Chorus  was  strung  upon  this  earthly  note  of  Peace. 
The  heavenly  chord  was  "  Glori/f  the  echo,  as  it  rebounded  against 
the  hard  and  frozen  ground,  upon  that  winter  morning,  in  accord  with 
it,  was  peace.  Long  ago,  in  the  prophetic  enumeration  of  His  titles, 
and  His  offices,  this  one  was  secured  to  the  promised  Child,  ^'the  Prince 
of  Peace."  And  the  beautiful  feet  of  Jesus  and  His  disciples,  as  they 
trod  down  the  mountain  sides  of  the  old  centuries,  before  the  rapt  eye 
of  the  inspired  Seers,  were  ''shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  Gospel  of 
Peace."  And  yet,  this  is  His  saying,  ''I  came  not  to  send  peace;  I 
came  to  send  a  sword."  How  is  it,  rather,  is  it,  that  there  is  discord, 
between  the  voice  that  the  Church  uttered  with  the  opening  Christmas 
season,  and  the  voice  with  which  she  introduces  this  solemn  fast  of 
Lent.  Beloved,  I  want  you  to  undertake  with  me  a  quiet,  thoughtful 
study  of  these  striking  words,  and  to  take  home,  the  plain  and  practical 
Lenten  bearing  of  them  upon  your  lives.    By  a  strange  coincidence, 


*  The  first  lessons  for  the  day,  were  the  seventh  and  ninth  chapters  of  the 
prophecy  of  Jeremiah ;  and  the  second  morning  lesson  was  the  tenth  chapter 
of  the  Gospel  according  to  St,  Matthew. 


4 


this  is  a  day  whicli^  for  many  and  many  a  year,  has  been  a  Saint's  day, 
in  the  calendar  of  patriotism.  I  honour  the  spirit  that  honours  such  a 
day,  and  such  a  man,  as,  on  this  day,  God  gave  to  all  the  world.  And 
upon  this  day,  the  nation  enters,  through  all  its  length  and  breadth, 
either  directly  as  Church  people,  or  indirectly  in  the  great  and  growing 
influence  of  the  Church  upon  the  outer  world  j  upon  this  day,  the 
nation  enters,  from  one  end  to  the  other  end,  from  one  side  to  the 
other  side,  upon  the  solemn  Lenten  Sundays.  It  is  not  unfittiog,  that 
a  veil  of  Christian  thoughtfulness  and  sorrow  floats  around  the  great 
memory  of  to-day.  We  should  not  keep  it  half  so  well  in  any  direct 
celebration,  as  here,  and  now,  among  the  awful  national  warnings  with 
which  to-day's  Holy  Scriptures  overrun.  And  yet,  I  am  not  here,  nor 
are  you,  to  name  a  human  name,  to  keep  an  earthly  feast.  I  speak 
only  of  the  providential  pointing,  which,  by  this  sort  of  patriotic  holy 
day,  leads  up  our  thoughts,  from  the  prophetic  denunciations  of  a 
ruined  nation,  to  see  the  threatened  ruin  of  our  own.  Instead  of  that 
complacent  and  vainglorious  boasting,  which  has,  for  years,  exhausted 
rhetoric,  in  search  of  words  sufficiently  self-glorifying  to  boast  our 
national  superiority,  in  freedom  and  success,  to  any  people  of  the 
earth ;  instead  of  the  proud  vaunting  of  that  courage  and  strength,  by 
which  we  were  delivered  from  subjection  into  sovereignty;  instead  of 
these,  there  are  the  discordant  voices  of  men  contending  unto  blood 
for  rights;  of  men  who,  with  the  readiest  counsel  and  most  freely 
ofi"ered,  yet  fail  to  find  the  remedy  for  our  national  disease ;  and  amid 
these,  we  hear  the  rumblings  of  that  far  off  thunder  which  comes 
across  the  sea,  and  the  cries  from  the  battle-fields,  the  groans  from  the 
hospitals,  and  the  wailing  from  fatherless,  widowed,  childless  homes. 
And  down  through  all  this  noise,  this  discord,  this  confusion,  making 
itself  heard,  as  thunder  does,  above  all  earth-born  sounds,  falls  this 
great  voice  of  God,  in  the  first  lesson  for  this  morning's  service,  upon 
the  very  day  when  we  are  wont  to  praise  our  human  deliverer,  to  glory 
in  our  human  deliverance ;  in  words,  to  whose  terrible  truthfulness,  who 
dares  to  give  the  lie ,  words,  to  whose  wondrous  application,  who  will 
venture  to  refuse  assent ;  words,  from  whose  awful  responsibility  which 
one  of  us  can  writhe  away?  ^^Will  ye  steal,  murder,  and  commit 
adultery  and  swear  falsely  and  burn  incense  unto  Baal,  and  walk  after 
other  gods,  whom  ye  know  not;  and  come  and  stand  before  ME,  in 
this  House,  whereupon  my  Name  is  called,  and  say,   We  are  delivered 


5 


to  do  all  tJiese  abominations.' "  Ah,  my  brethren,  delivered  men,  free 
men,  are  not  they  who  are  the  slaves  of  such  enchaining  and  debasing 
habits.  "Abraham's  seed,  and  never  in  bondage  to  any  man/'  is  well 
enough  for  boastful  lips  to  say;  but  '^he  that  committeth  sin,  is  the 
servant  of  sin."  While  we  speak  of  liberty,  we  are  the  servants  of 
corruption;"  and  all  our  national  pride,  that  totters  now,  so  miserably 
to  its  fall,  is  but  the  trusting  "■  in  lying  words  that  cannot  profit." 

And  then  comes,  Lent — right  in  the  midst  of  wars,  of  sufi'erings 
untold  to  heart  and  body,  of  fraud,  of  political  strife  and  contentions, 
of  wranglings  after  place,  of  graspings  after  money,  of  extortion,  of 
bribery,  of  violence,  of  drunkenness,  of  profanity,  of  ^irreverence,  of 
wanton  triviality,  of  wickedness  in  high  places  and  in  low ;  right  in 
the  midst  of  all  this,  comes  in  Lent;  with  its  fasts,  its  heart-search- 
ings,  its  humiliation,  its  self-denials,  its  penitence,  its  confessions,  and 
its  prayers.  There  is  a  Lent  of  sorrow  over  all  the  land.  With  forced 
mirth,  or  mocking  frivolity,  the  world  of  fashion  gilds  and  glosses  over 
the  groans  and  tears,  the  fears,  the  anxious  uncertainties,  the  terrible 
possibilities  of  every  day  But,  literally  and  truly,  the  echo  of  the 
laughter  is  a  knell :  and  they  are  ghastly  skeletons,  in  almost  transpa- 
rent robes,  that  make  gay  the  carnival  routs  of  these  sad  times ;  for 
"from  the  cities  of  Judah  and  from  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  the  Lord 
God  has  caused  to  cease  the  voice  of  mirth  and  the  voice  of  gladness, 
for  the  land  is  desolate."  Oh  my  beloved,  let  us  do  what  in  us  lies, 
to  make  it  a  Lenten  time  of  devotion,  of  penitence,  of  grief  for  sin,  of 
voluntary  self-punishment;  lest  there  be  written,  uttered,  soon  of  us, 
those  words,  too  terrible  almost  for  utterance,  those  words  of  such  utter, 
outer  hopelessness  and  ruin;  '^pray  not  thou,  for  this  people,  neither 
lift  up  cry  nor  prayer  for  them,  neither  make  intercession  for  them, 
for  I IV ill  not  hear  thee.'' 

"  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace  on  earth ;  I  came  not  to 
send  peace,  but  a  sword."  You  know,  that  in  the  elder  days,  there  were 
many  sentimental  expectants  of  Messiah's  reign,  who  looked  for  all 


^  It  is  incredible,  yet  said  to  be  true,  that  a  public  speaker,  within  a  few 
weeks,  m  2^  public  speech,  closed  with  this  hyper-blasphemous  parody,  "  There 
is  none  other  name  under  heaven,  given  among  men  in  whom  this  nation  must 
be  saved  but  only  the  name  of — Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United 
States." 


6 


good  and  perfect  human  gifts  of  peace,  prosperity  and  plenty,  and  tlie 
kingdom  restored  to  Israel.  The  Apostles  shared  the  common  hope, 
in  some  degree.  They  fondly  dreamed  to  have  heaven  transplanted 
to  the  earth ;  as  though  some  traveller  should  scoop  a  hollow,  in  a  floe 
of  ice  in  BaflSn's  Bay,  to  plant  in  it,  a  tropical  palm.  They  forgot  that 
great  lesson,  of  God's  gradual  dealings,  God's  gradual  development  of 
everything.  They  lost  sight  of  that  essential  and  inherent,  axiomatic 
truth,  in  the  Divine  economy,  which  gives  no  gifts,  till  men  are  fitted 
for  their  reception  and  appreciation ;  which  only  sends  the  mature  and 
mellow  fruit,  when  patient  waiting  has  stood  in  the  working  footprints 
of  unwearied  toil,  trodden  deeply  into  the  earth,  which  has  been  dug 
and  furrowed  and  tormented,  with  the  sharp  teeth  of  spade  and  hoe 
and  share.  And  they  looked  for  peace  to  be  the  instantaneous  result  of 
the  Messiah's  kingdom  ;  the  sudden  and  spontaneous  outgrowth,  wooed 
by  the  sun  and  wind  of  Heaven,  from  soil  that  had  been  rank  with 
every  sort  of  noxious  weeds.  The  dew  of  the  Messiah's  birth  was  of 
the  womb  of  the  morning;"  His  dew  was  ^'as  the  dew  of  herbs,"  and 
the  earth  was  ^^to  cast  out  its  dead ;"  its  old  and  honored  wrongs. 

But  with  {he  influences  of  heaven,  must  be  the  toils,  and  trials  and 
tortures  of  earth.  And  against  this  sentimental  expectation,  this 
theory  of  an  unaided,  effortless,  spontaneous,  irresistible  outpouring  of 
peace ;  this  expectation  of  a  harvest  with  no  seed-time,  no  patient  wait- 
ing, no  toilsome  work,  the  Saviour  lifts  the  denial  of  His  purpose,  in 
the  great  words  of  the  text,  I  am  not  come  to  send  peace."  It  was 
the  very  longing  of  His  soul,  the  one  and  only  intention^  for  which  He 
had  left  the  Father's  side  in  Heaven ;  "  of  twain  to  make  one  man ;"  to 
reconcile  the  Gentile  and  the  Jew;  to  make  mankind  at  one  with  God. 
By  a  designed  coincidence,' His  birthday  fell  upon  an  age  of  peace. 
The  gates  of  Janus  were  closed,  for  the  third  time  only,  since  Kome 
was  built. 

*  "Peace,  crown'd  with  olive  green,  came  softly  sliding 

Down  through  the  turning  sphere, 

His  ready  harbinger, 
With  turtle  wing,  the  amorous  clouds  dividing ; 

And,  waving  with  her  myrtle  wand, 

She  strikes  an  H.»tt6«e4  peace,  through  sea  and  land. 
No  war,  or  battle's  sound 

Was  heard  the  world  around  : 


*  Milton's  hymn  on  the  Morning  of  Christ's  Nativity. 


7 


The  idle  spear  and  shield  were  high  up  hung, 

The  hooked  chariot  stood, 

Unstained  with  hostile  blood, 
The  trumpet  spake  not  to  the  armed  throng. 
And  kings  sat  still  with  awful  eye. 
As  if  they  surely  knew  their  sovereign  Lord  was  by." 

But  this  was  but  the  prophetic  picture  of  a  history  which  should  be 
realized  through  the  travail  pains  of  strife  and  war.  From  that  day 
forth,  there  has  not  been  an  age,  in  which  the  very  signs  of  the  great 
judgment  day  have  not  been  enacted^  in  the  wars  and  rumours  of  wars, 
the  distress  of  nations,  the  failing  of  men's  hearts  for  fear  and  for 
perplexity.  And  HE  who  ruleth  over  all  from  the  beginning  has  vin- 
dicated, all  along,  and  in  no  age  more  fully  than  in  ours,  the  truth  of 
these  great  words  :  ^'  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword.''  Paint- 
ing, in  that  day  of  the  first  coming,  in  faint  and  shadowy  outlines,  the 
picture  of  that  peace,  which,  at  His  second  coming  shall  be  perfected 
and  made  perpetual,  He  has,  in  His  providential  ordering  of  the  world, 
connected  the  hopeful  seed  time  with  the  fulfilled  harvest,  by  the  series 
of  hoes  and  harrows,  of  spades  and  ploughshares,  that  have  furrowed 
the  wide  earth,  into  a  great  universal  grave  of  the  hopes,  the  hearts,  the 
bodies  of  men.  And  yet,  beloved,  His  purpose,  His  intention,  His 
final  object,  His  certain  accomplishment,  is  peace.  But  it  is  peace, 
through  the  swoid.  The  figure  of  the  text  is  strong  even  to  violence. 
Its  perfect  consistency,  to  our  shortsighted  vision,  that  cannot  discern 
the  beginning  from  the  end,  seems  contradiction.  We  may  perhaps 
read  in  one  version  of  the  Christmas  Carol,  that  the  peace  is  only  to 
*men  of  good-will,"  to  menf  well-pleasing  unto  God;  and  so,  knowing 
our  ill-will  to  one  another;  our  tone  of  life  and  heart,  displeasing  unto 
God,  we  may  avoid  the  seeming  contradiction  of  the  Lenten  and  the 
Christmas  voices.  Or  we  may  take,  as  we  had  better,  higher  ground; 
and  appropriate  the  bitter  warning  of  the  text;  that  our  peace,  the  only 
peace  that  God  will  send  upon  this  earth,  is  a  peace  won  by  the  sword ; 
the  peace  of  God's  victory,  through  the  sword  of  the  Cross,  over  the  powers 
of  evil  and  the  god  of  this  world;  the  peace  of  our  self-conquest,  by 
the  sword  of  suff"ering  self-denial ;  of  our  conquering  the  world,  by  the 


*  "Pax  hominibus  bonse  voluntatis."  ^^avdpunoig  evdodag." 
•f  "  Homines  bene  placiti." 


8 


sword  of  sharp,  severe  and  violent  attack,  upon  its  enthroned  wrongs,  its 
crowned  evils,  and  its  usurping  sins.  This  is  the  force,  the  power 
of  the  words.  That  peace,  which  the  Prince  of  Peace  will  give  to  all 
mankind,  He  must,  because  of  our  wickedness,  wring  from  us  with  the 
sword,  and  therefore,  He  sends  that  sword  which  shall  conquer  and 
compel  His  peace.  Dearly  beloved,  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  comes 
into  this  world,  in  complete  contrast,  in  open  opposition,  in  direct 
warfare,  with  its  spirit.  The  peace,  the  world  seeks,  and  is  satisfied 
with,  is  the  stagaant  compromise  with  corruption,  which  leaves  the 
rotting  sediment  intact,  to  spread  its  slimy  silence,  breeding  death, 
upon  the  surface  of  the  tide  of  time,  which  is  stilled  by  the  weight 
of  its  disgusting  presence.  As  when,  a  violent  inflammatory  disease 
brings  torturing  pains  to  the  poor  body  of  the  sick  man,  the  doctor 
hopes  for  cure;  but,  when  the  painlessness  of  mortification  sets  in,  the 
patient  is  encouraged,  and  the  physician  hopeless ;  so  has  our  peace 
been  the  hopeless  token  of  inevitable  death,  to  every  body  but 
ourselves.  And  He  is  the  good  physician  who  prefers  our  pain; 
He  is  the  Prince  of  Peace,  the  only  Giver  of  real  peace,  who  is  come 
to  send  the  sword.  It  is  not  His  choice,  His  gift.  His  preference. 
But  we  pervert  His  purpose,  by  our  sins.  We  compel,  by  our  corrupt- 
ness, the  means  He  uses,  to  attain  His  end.  And  it  is  He,  therefore, 
who,  in  all  ages  and  in  all  the  world.  He,  who,  in  this  age  and  in  our 
land,  is  come  in  the  disastrous  dangers  that  sadden  all  our  hearts,  send- 
ing not  peace  first,  but  the  sword ;  the  sword,  to  win  for  us  His  peace. 
Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  to  take  in  this  truth,  to  keep  in  view 
this  end ;  to  own  the  absolute  necessity  and  cause  of  this.  It  is  a  voice 
to  you  and  me  as  individuals,  to  us  as  Burlingtonians,  to  us  as  Ame- 
ricans. "  I  am  not  come  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword.  Think  ye  not 
that  I  am  come  to  send  peace."  Think  not,  that  this  money-making, 
self-glorifying,  power-increasing,  party-serving,  self-seeking  stillness  of 
our  former  years,  is  His  peace.  This  sorrow,  this  severance,  this  suf- 
fering, this  shame;  this  is  His  gift.  What  are  you  sorry  for;  what  are 
you  suffering  from;  what  are  you  keeping  Lent  about?  0  selfish, 
silly  hearts  !  We  are  all  sorry  for  the  suffering  which  may  check  our 
sin,  not  for  the  sin  which  causes  all  our  suffering.  We  are  grieving 
for  the  sword,  which  Jesus  Christ  sends  to  hew  out  for  us  final,  per- 
fect and  perpetual  peace.  We  are  mourning  for  the  loss  of  that  flimsy, 
shallow,  stagnant,  corrupt  and  poisonous  prosperity,  which,  in  our  blind- 
ness, we  mistook  for  peace.    Look  at  that  other  word  of  God  :  "  I  am 


9 


come  to  send  fire  on  the  earth,  and,  what  will  I,  if  it  be  already  kind- 
led." Take  the  two  words  together ;  the  fire  and  the  sword.  And 
what  will  He ;  He,  who  is  to  fall  the  first  victim  to  this  sword ;  to 
the  fury  of  this  fire;  He  wills,  He  longs,  He  desires  that  the  fire 
be  kindled,  that  the  sword  be  whetted,  that  the  fury  be  ac- 
complished ;  the  sword  to  prune,  the  fire  to  purge,  the  evil  that 
is  in  the  world.  And  we,  we  do  not  share  in  His  desire ;  we 
dread  the  sword,  we  fear  the  fire ;  we  are  content  with  the  evil,  we 
complain  and  mourn  at  the  suff"ering,  we  are  satisfied  with  the  sin. 
Beloved,  these  are  tremendous  words,  for  us  to  hear,  as  Christians 
entering  upon  Lent,  as  Americans,  as  citizens  of  our  city.  They  sug- 
gest a  national,  a  public  evil  and  calamity.  They  imply  public  and 
national  humiliation,  and  sorrow  for  sin.  They  do  not  shut  out,  but 
they  involve,  individual  sorrow,  because  you  and  I,  as  individuals, 
make  up  the  great  mass  of  the  city  and  the  nation.  And  our  sins, 
yours  and  mine,  are  the  component  parts  of  that  great,  giant  mass  of 
evil,  which  grasps  the  pierced  Hand  of  Jesus,  as  it  opens  wide  to  pour 
down  on  us  peace ;  and  closes  it,  upon  the  hilt  of  a  sharp  sword,  with 
its  edge  whetted  against  ourselves.  What  is  the  lesson  ?  That  we 
must  keep  this  Lent  as  sinners  not  as  sufferers;  as  Americans  not  as 
individuals,  only.  I  would  not  take  this  sword  as  setting  forth  directly 
our  terrible  war.  That  is  but  part  of  the  sword.  I  would  not  under- 
rate the  agony  of  this  war's  suff'erings;  for  I  have  seen,  with  you,  the 
heart  rendings  of  the  unhusbanded,  the  unfathered,  the  unsonned  :  the 
maimed  and  dying  in  the  hospitals.  But  there  is  a  greater,  deeper  sor- 
row than  all  this;  the  sorrow  for  the  sin  that  causes  it.  Look  out  among 
ourselves;  how  drunkenness  stalks,  openly,  in  sunlight  in  the  streets. 
Look  at  those  very  hells  on  earth,  within  sound  of  our  Church  bells, 
in  which,  inhuman  villains  violate  with  impunity,  even  the  broad 
permissions  of  the  license  law;'^'  and  barter  their  own  souls  away, 
for  the  sixpences  they  steal  from  starving  households,  when  they 
sell  the  fire  of  drink  to  boys,  to  well  known  drunkards,  to  men  who  are 
drunk  when  they  buy  it.  Look  how  a  timid,  time-serving,  treacherous 
justice  drags  unconscious  and  stupefied  sin  to  prison;  and  leaves  these 
unrighteous  traffickers  to  ply  their  infernal  trade,  unharmed.  Look  at 
the  squinting  eye  of  our  law-administrators,  that  cannot  see  the  back- 
doors open,  because  the  front  shutters  are  barred,  in  our  drinking  shops 


*  Appendix  A. 


10 


on  Sunday.  Listen  to  the  incessant  roll  of  railroad  transportation, 
desecrating  the  silence  of  God's  Holy  Day,  and  compelling  hundreds 
of  men  to  labour  on  the  day  of  rest,  in  outright,  understood, 
acknowledged  violation  of  the  human  law  which  we  permit,  because 
we  tolerate  the  men  in  ofl&ce,  who  are  afraid  to  stop  it.  Look  at  the 
fearful  increase,  in  all  the  land,  of  this  most  deadly  and  destructive  sin 
of  drunkenness.  Or  go  up  higher*  Look  how  for  years,  love,  sym- 
pathy, good-will,  the  common-weal,  have  all  been  swamped  in  bigotry, 
intolerance,  self-opinion,  selt  righteousness,  violence,  self-interest,  dis- 
regard of  public  faith,  self  will )  in  sectional  pride,  in  personal  or  party 
spoils.  Look  at  the  vile  and  venal  corruptness  of  our  public  men  : 
almost  the  highest  officers  of  federal  and  state  governments  accused  and 
uncleared  of  shamefaced  bribery ;  posts  of  the  most  sublime  respon- 
sibility, at  auction,  to  the  richest  bidder;  the  scramble  after  places  of 
honour  and  of  profit,  conducted  by  the  avowed,  deliberate  purchase  of 
votes,  in  money  given,  in  free  and  liberal  entertainment,  in  the  sale  of 
under  offices  of  trust;  the  holy  halls  of  the  administration  of  justice, 
of  the  legislation  of  right,  of  the  execution  of  law,  very  bar-rooms 
and  brothels  for  vileness  and  violence  :  while  the  wilful  pursuit  of  party 
ends,  the  trivial,  blaspheming,  revolting  -wTjappreciation  of  the  deep 
solemnity  of  the  issues  of  the  hour,  make  buffoonery  and  party  victory 
and  personal  triumphs,  the  chief  characteristics  of  this  terrible  time. 

And  yet,  men  only  say,  we  are  no  worse  than  other  nations.  Oh, 
what  a  word  is  that !  We,  in  the  bare  infancy  of  our  hfe  as  a  nation, 
avowedly  as  had  as  the  nations  whose  corruptness  is  imbecile  with  age: 
babies  profane,  and  little  boys  inebriates.  And  yet  how,  not  worse  ? 
Q'he  finger  of  God,  in  letters  of  blood,  has  written  on  the  Capitol 
walls  the  sentence  of  its  years  of  infamy  in  the  management  of  our 
Indian  affairs,  and  still  for  all  that  massacre,  what  is  done  ?  A  few 
Indians  are  hung,  and  rightfully;  the  deeper  dyed  heathen,  on  the 
borders  and  in  the  Agencies,  go  on  sustained  in  their  career  of 
swindling,  in  the  encouragement  of  the  savage  vices  of  those  tribes, 
in  their  deliberate  infection  of  them  with  disease  and  sin;  till, 
even  now,  the  noble  Bishop  of  Minnesota  lifts  up  •('his  voice  in  warn- 
ing of  a  Chippewa  war  to  come,  exceeding  in  bloody  atrocity  the  Sioux 
massacre  of  the  other  day.    The  government  of  this  Christian  country 

*  Appendix  B. 

■}•  Missionary  Paper,  No.  24,  by  the  Bp  Seabury  Mission,  Taribault,  Minn., 
February,  A.  D.  1863 ;  and  also  Churcli  Journal  for  March  5th. 


11 


tolerates  a  Pagan  temple  and  idol  worship,  in  the  heart  of  San  Fran- 
cisco. It  administers  the  Senatorial  oath  to  Mormons,  who,  in  their 
support  of  the  vile  sensuousness  of  polygamy,  have  rejected  utterly  the 
Bible,  on  which  the  sacredness  of  an  oath  depends.  And  there  is  reserved 
for  this  age,  a  depth  of  degradation  on  which  the  moral  decency  of 
heathenism  looks,  frowning  and  amazed;  in  that  new  law,  just  passed 
the  Senate,  which  seeks  to  compel  me,  or  any  other  minister  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace,  to  bear  arms  and  to  shed  blood.  The  heathen  augurs 
stayed  at  home  to  consult  the  omens  of  the  god  of  war.  The  Jewish 
priesthood,  in  God's  own  battles,  stayed  on  the  hill  top,  away  from  all 
the  carnage,  and  held  in  prayer  the  issues  of  the  fight.  The  Christian 
minister  is  to  be  forced  out  into  the  ranks;  or  compromise  with  wrong, 
by  paying  fines.  Shall  not  God's  soul  '-be  avenged,  on  such  a  nation 
as  this/'  And  we,  what  are  we  to  do;  not  to  abuse,  denounce  and 
disobey :  nay  but  to  make  these  evils  our  own ;  to  correct  them,  as  we 
may,  to  pray,  confess,  amend.  The  Church,  remember,  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  mere  civil  enactments  of  the  State.  Her  ministers 
must  attack  all  sin:  aiming  at  what  lies  about  them;  and  at  the  under- 
neath, immoral  motives;  not  the  outside,  surface,  political  results.  But 
you  as  Christian  men  have  to  do  with  these  things,  in  influence,  in 
votes,  in  your  share  of  the  administration  of  the  country;  to  see  to  it, 
that  not  only  shall  the  king  be  feared,  the  majesty  of  law  sustained, 
and  vindicated;  but  that  beside,  in  all  things,  God  shall  be  honoured 
too. 

"  I  am  come  to  send  the  sword;  I  am  come  to  send  fire,  and  what  will 
I,  if  it  be  already  kindled."  The  wise,  far-seeing,  deep,  loving  will  of 
God  desires  and  decides  for  us  the  sword;  this  sorrow,  this  suffering, 
this  shame.  Let  us  not  deprecate  it,  nor  grieve  at  it.  National 
wickedness  is  worse,  a  great  deal,  than  national  war.  But  underneath 
this,  let  us  confess,  correct,  attack,  expose,  the  wide-spread  and  infec 
tious  corruption,  which  has  left  no  part  whole,  from  the  head  down  to 
the  lowest  member  of  the  body  politic.  We  have  leaned  too  long  upon 
mere  man ;  till  now,  in  our  hour  of  utmost  need,  God  has  left  no  one 
man,  anywhere,  upon  whom  any  would  be  fool  enough  to  lean ;  and  we 
must  fall  back  on  God.  V\^e  must  accept  the  sword  of  our  national 
calamity,  as  sent  of  Him. 

Can  it  be  that  tl;ie  Devil,  has  carried  us  up  to  the  ^pinnacle  of  our 


*  St.  Matthew  iv :  1 ;  the  Holy  Gospel  for  the  day. 


12 


national  prosperity :  that  at  his  bidding,  our  only  thought  has  been  to 
make  bread  of  stones,  turning  everything  to  gain.  Have  we  listened, 
in  our  wicked  longings  after  wider  empire,  to  his  false  whisper.  'i 
will  give  all  these,  to  thee,  if  thou  wilt  worship  mef  0  let  us  prove 
it  not  so,  by  a  vigorous,  out-spoken,  ^'Get  thee  hence  Satan;"  giving 
up  bread,  power,  pride  of  place,  all  things  that  are  his  gifts  and  the 
reward  of  our  service  to  him ;  and  then  God  will  send  us  the  minis- 
tering angel  of  His  peace.  And  the  correction  of  these  evils,  that  have 
forged  and  sharpened  this  bitter  sword,  must  be  personal,  must  be 
among  ourselves.  The  outgrowths  of  this  time,  the  leaders,  the  great 
men  in  their  own  esteem,  must  slough  off,  in  the  healing  of  this  deep 
ulcer:  and  from  the  bottom,  the  heart,  the  depth,  the  nation,  the 
people,  must  come  up  the  healthy  growth  of  new,  sound,  living  flesh. 
The  patched  up  peace  of  moneyed  prosperity,  gained  by  a  bargain  with 
selfishness  and  sin,  must  be  given  up;  and  the  sword  of  the  Lord,  in 
its  sharpest  edge,  be  accepted  and  huiiged  to  our  hearts  instead.  And 
our  Lenten  work^  as  individuals  of  this  great  nation,  is  to  turn  from 
man,  from  sin,  from  self,  '^unto  the  Lord,  with  fasting,  and  with  weeping, 
and  with  mourning;"  while  'Uhe  Priests,  the  ministers  of  the  Lord," 
under  the  very  waving  of  this  sword  which  Jesus  sends,  "weep  between 
the  porch  and  the  altar,"  beseeching  Him,  when  it  may  he  for  our 
peace,  to  stay  His  hand;  and  crying,  with  the  full  voiced  antiphon  of 
your  response ;  "  Spare  thy  people  0  Lord,  and  give  not  Thine  heritage 
to  reproach." 

In  the  darkness  of  the  hour,  the  eyes  of  every  human  prophet  fail 
to  catch  the  breaking  of  the  day.  But  we  may  feel  our  way  through 
it,  with  groping  hands,  outstretched  in  prayer.  It  may  be,  that  from 
this  generation^  so  far  gone  backward  from  our  fathers'  virtues,  the 
kingdom  is  to  be  taken  away,  ''the  crown"  to  "fall;"  ^'for  we  have 
sinned."  But  for  the  great  hope  of  future  days,  for  the  fulfilment  of 
the  promise  of  the  past,  we  have  sore  need  to  confess,  to  plead,  to 
pray;  for  the  triumph  of  law,  the  vindicafion  of  violated  authority; 
for  victory,  union,  peace ;  for  President,  Congress  and  our  arms ;  for 
restored  virtue,  for  public  honour  and  morality,  and  a  return  to  the  fear 
of  God ;  crying  "  unto  the  Lord  in  our  trouble,"  that  He  will, — first 
accomplish  His  work  in  us; — and  then,  in  His  own  good  time  and  way, 
deliver  us  from  our  distress/'  "  making  this  storm  to  cease  till  the 
waves  thereof  are  still." 


13 


APPENDIX  A. 

It  is  thought  that  the  execution  of  the  Sec.  2nd  only  of  this  first 
law  would  give  the  city  a  yearly  income  of  S500,  at  least.  If  it  can 
be  proved  a  paying  business;  perhaps  the  law  may  be  enforced.  The 
suggestion  is  commended  to  the  Council  Committee  on  "Ways  and 
Means.'' 

"Be  it  ordained  by  the  Inhabitants  of  the  City  of  Burlington,  in  Common 
Council  assembled,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the  same. 

Sec.  1.  It  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  person,  not  having  a  License  to  keep 
an  Inn  or  Tavern,  to  sell  or  knowingly  permit  or  cause  to  be  sold  by  less  mea- 
sure than  one  quart  any  wine,  rum,  gin,  brandy,  cider,  spirits,  or  other 
ardent  spirits,  or  any  other  liquids  of  which  distilled  spirits  shall  form  a  com- 
ponent part,  except  such  as  are  used  or  compounded  for  medicine,  under  penalty 
of  Ten  Dollars,  for  every  such  offence,  or  imprisonment  in  the  jail  of  said  City, 
for  a  term  not  exceeding  ten  days,  at  the  discretion  of  the  magistrate  before 
whom  such  complaint  is  made. 

Sec.  2.  That  if  any  person  or  persons,  possessing  or  occupying  any  house, 
building,  room,  cellar  or  apartment  of  any  kind  within  the  limits  of  vurlington, 
shall,  on  the  Christian  Sabbath,  or  first  day  of  the  week,  called  Suaday,  sell, 
permit,  or  cause  to  be  sold  tnerein  any  oysters,  soup  or  refreshments  of  any 
kind,  or  beer,  ale,  cider,  porter,  or  liquor  of  any  kind,  mixed  or  unmixed,  or 
shall  keep  open  any  establishment  for  the  sale  of  such  articles,  or  shall  permit 
any  number  of  persons  other  than  his,  her  or  their  own  family  to  come  together 
therein,  and  to  remain  drinking,  tippling  or  misbehaving  themselves,  he,  she, 
or  they  shall  forfeit  and  pay  the  sum  of  Five  Dollars  for  every  such  offence,  to 
be  recovered  before  the  Mayor  or  any  one  of  the  Aldermen  of  this  City." 

An  Ordinance  relating  to  the  Keepers  of  Oyster  Saloons  in  the  City  of  Burlington. 

Sec.  2.  That  no  License  shall  be  granted  to  any  person  or  persons  for  such 
purpose  aforesaid,  unless  the  Common  Council  shall  be  clearly  of  opinion  that 
the  grant  of  such  license  is  necessarv  to  accommodate  the  public  ;  and  that  the 
person  or  persons  applying  for  the  same  is  and  are  reputable  for  honesty  and 
temperance. 

Sec.  4.    That  the  applications  for  License  shall  be  made  to  the  Common 


■  "WW'  n  V  y  '■'^ 


Council  at  least  two  weeks  previous  to  the  time  when  the  same  shall  be  granted, 
*  *  and  a  certificate  thereunto  annexed,  signed  by  at  least  ten  respect- 
able citizens  and  freeholders  of  the  city,  setting  forth  that  such  Oyster  Saloon 
is  necessary  for  the  accommodation  of  the  public,  and  that  such  person  or  per- 
sons is  and  are  of  good  repute  for  honesty  and  temperance. 

Sec.  5  That  all  such  Licenses  shall  be  *  *  *  subject  to  be  revoked  by 
Common  Council,  by  resolution,  at  any  time,  for  a  violation  or  neglect  of  any 
of  the  provisions  of  this  or  any  other  Ordinance  which  the  Common  Council 
shall  or  may  pass,  relative  to  the  same. 

Sec.  8.  That  no  person  or  persons  so  licensed  shall  suffer  any  drunkenness, 
riot  or  other  disorderly  conduct  in  his,  her  or  their  place  of  business,  or  on  his, 
her  or  their  premises,  under  the  penalty  of  Ten  Dollars  for  the  first  violation 
hereof,  and  Twenty  Dollars  for  each  and  every  subsequent  violation. 

Sec.  9.  That  no  person  or  persons  so  Licensed  as  aforesaid,  shall  incite, 
promote,  encourage,  permit  or  allow,  or  engage  in  any  game  of  address  or 
hazard  *    or  any  betting  or  gaming  for  money,  or  any  other  thing  of 

value  whatsoever,  under  the  penalty  of  Ten  Dollars  for  the  first  violation,  and 
Thirty  Dollars  for  every  subsequent  violation,  his  License  shall  forthwith  be 
void,  and  such  person  or  persons  so  convicted  shall  be  incapable  of  being  again 
licensed  in  like  manner  for  two  years  thereafter. 


APPENDIX  B 

A  Supplement  to  an  Act  entitled  "An  Act  for  suppressing  Vice  and  Immorality." 
Approved  April  15th,  1846.    Approved  March  16,  1854 

Sec.  1.  No  transportation  of  freight ;  excepting  milk,  on  any  public  highway, 
railroad,  or  canal,  shall  be  done  or  allowed  by  any  person  or  persons  within 
this  State,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  commonly  called  the  Christian 
Sabbath  :  Provided,  That  nothing  in  this  Act  contained  shall  be  construed  so 
as  to  prevent  the  transportation  of  the  United  States  mail  by  railroad  or  on 
the  public  highways,  or  to  the  regular  trips  of  ferry  boats  within  the  State  or 
between  this  and  another  State.  . 

Sec.  4.  Every  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  this  State  is  hereby  empowered  and 
required,  upon  his  personal  knowledge  or  view,  or  other  due  information  of 
any  canal  boat  or  railroad  car,  transporting  freight  through  any  part  of  this 
State  as  aforesaid,  he  shall  be  authorized  and  required  to  stop  and  detain  the 
same,  or  order  the  same  to  be  stopped  and  detained,  at  the  cost  and  expense 
of  the  proprietor  or  proprietors  of  such  canal  boat  or  railroad  car,  until  the 
following  day,  and  then  to  be  dealt  with  as  hereinbefore  is  directed. 


